Sheraton Annapolis [Master Thread]
 

Has anyone stayed at the Sheraton in Annapolis? We'll be there for some Naval Academy events and I was wondering about the size of the suite. Is it a true suite with a separate bedroom or just an overlarge room with a sofa at one end? We'd like to be able to have a place to gather with other family and still be comfortable.

Thanks

I stayed there on a Friday evening in mid May and was provided with a suite, although not without asking for one. It was a indeed a "true" suite, with a separate living room and bedroom and was nicely decorated and in very good condition. I do not think that this hotel has very many suites so it might be somewhat difficult to snag one.

In any case, the staff in the hotel all seemed very friendly and happily proffered a continental breakfast coupons.

If you have never been there before, you might want to double check to determine whether the hotel's location is appropriate for your needs. Its really on the outskirts of Annapolis, situated in the middle of a shopping center.

Larry, thanks for the information - good to know. We'll be using our points so being a little removed from the Academy is a small price to pay. We'd planned to rent a car anyway so we can take our son around the area of he wants to get away from the Yard (the campus at the Naval Academy)

How is this hotel? The last report is from 2003, 5 years ago, a lifetime in hotel years. It is $80 less than the Westin for the night I am considering.

Is parking free?

Is internet free?

Is there a lounge? If so, how are the offerings?

How is the location?

How are the rooms?

How well are platinums treated?

We stayed there last May on cash and points. As gold, we were upgraded to a suite, without asking. The suite was large, with a separate living room area, a dining table and wet bar. The furnishings are a bit dated, but the room was comfortable.

As a previous poster said, the location is not in the center of things. It is on the outskirts, near the highway and next to a large shopping mall. I think our taxi ride back from downtown was about $12. Parking is free at the hotel.

I think the internet was free, but I'm not 100% sure.

I don't think there was a lounge.

There is a small gym and pool.

Staff were helpful and we had no difficulty getting late check-out.

We drove past the Westin, which is much closer to the center of town and looked brand-new. The price difference is probably due to the age of the Sheraton and its location.

I stayed at the Sheraton a few weeks ago.

The rooms are a TAD older, but by far not the worst I have been in. There IS a lounge, offerings were average. The problem was the lounge opened 30+ minutes LATE.

This paying gold did not get an upgrade.

Parking free, HSIA was free.

We were supposed to stay at the Sheraton this past weekend. There was some boat show going on, which made the hotel very busy (full) and we were not able to be upgraded. The room they goave us had an odd smell and the sheets did not look to have been changed (they probably were, but they looked wrinkled). We were not happy and the PLT concierge managed to get us into the Westin, which was much better, even though they only had double beds and no upgrades available (also full due to boat show). They did offer to move us for our second night, but we were fine where we were.

I generally do not care for Sheratons, especially U.S. Sheratons. I'm an Asia-Pacific guy and hold hotels to very high standards.

I came to this hotel after 3 stellar Hyatt stays, so it suffered by comparison. Still, once I adjusted my expectations, it was an acceptable 3 star hotel.

The hotel is switching over all the mattresses this week to the Sheraton mattress. It is also taking out all the CRT TVs and putting in large flat panel ones. The lounge is out of service during renovation, as were some suites. We got no upgrade.

We were originally given a room on the 6th floor, being inaccurately told it was a suite. There was a heavy chemical odor on the floor, I thought from painting or new carpet. I was immediately slammed with a headache. When we went back to ask for a different room, the front office manager came to speak to us. He was unaware of any odor, saying that no carpet or painting had been done.

We were then given a room on the 4th floor. We had chemical odor near the elevators, as well as some on entering our room, but not nearly as bad. As PresRDC said, I was struck re the wrinkled sheets and covers in both rooms. They must not put them thru a mangler.

The room was adequate, with bed, desk, dresser, and chair. The bathroom was small, but then it would be in any oldish hotel.

The hotel did do a number of things to make stays positive for guests.

• internet is free for everyone. There is a business center off the lobby with 2 computers.
• Evening appetizers (mediocre) and breakfast were served in the lobby, due to the lounge being closed this week.
• Platinums are allowed 1 free movie, which would otherwise cost $16. You just have to tell them at the front desk when you check out so that they take it off the bill.

The hotel is right off the freeway, with easy access. It really is not for the person who wants to walk around the historic heart of Annapolis. We had a car, so it was fine for us. There is a large shopping center across the street with cinema.

Would this be the Cambridge Hyatt?

It was one of the three Hyatts where I stayed. Check the Hyatt forum for my reports.

Any recent updates on stays?

Plat colleague stayed last weekend, reported getting cocktails and free breakfast as a plat because lounge is closed on weekends. Didn't ask about the movie that SanDiego1K reports, I'll have to, I need a night up in Annapolis in a couple of weeks and the Westin appears to have a 2-night minimum stay requirement in place. But free parking and free internet'll work, and it's cheap enough....

I forgot to ask about the movie!! :eek:

Checked in yesterday afternoon. I turned up at 2:40pm, was told they had me in a club room with two double beds. Umm, mrs. gleff and I are still only a few years into our marriage, could we have one bed? ;)

This place was busy, busy, busy. They told me they had no king rooms available, sorry. Could you downgrade me off the club floor and give me a king? "Nothing's ready, you know it isn't even check-in time yet."

Ok, when could I have a king? "Check-in time is at 3pm sir, please come back in 20 minutes. I will block you into a king room on the 5th floor."

I return at 3:30pm. They had me in ... a club room with 2 double beds. I mentioned that I was told to come back at 3 and I could have a king bedded room. "Who told you that???" I described the woman working the front desk.

Woman approaches the more senior agent on duty, neither look at me, "Well we can do that but nothing's ready."

"Do you think you might be able to find out when such a room could be ready?" and I rather stare sternly at her. She picks up her walkie talkie and learns there are 2 king rooms on the 5th floor that are ready just not entered into the system year. I was given room 501 which had a plaque "Starwood Preferred Guest Room." I guess that means it had one complimentary bottle of water.

Without comment they gave me 2 keys in a platinum folder and two breakfast coupons. I mentioned the cocktails and appetizer coupons a colleage received a couple weekends back as a plat while the lounge is closed on the weekend, and the agent grabbed two more breakfast coupons and crossed out breakfast, writing in appetizer.

I asked when breakfast was, they said 7am - 1pm on Sundays. Funny, we went to breakfast at 11:30am and were told it was closing but they kept it open for us (never refreshed the completely empty french toast or bacon for us though). Buffet is rather sparse, but they do offer cooked to order eggs or omelettes.

We went up to the 5th floor. Elevator is VERY slow. Got out and noticed a musty, mildewy smell. It was all the way down the hall (carpet needs replacement in the hall, btw) and even stronger in the room. A/C helped get rid of it in the room. SPG room had microwave and refrigerator, I was told by the agent only club rooms had those.

Sweet sleeper bed, flat screen TV, desk, stained lounge chair, mildewy tub... free parking and free wireless internet.

I had told them I needed 2pm checkout, but my key expired at noon sharp. it didn't work at 12:10pm. Went down to the desk and they reprogrammed it, but it still didn't work so back (down the extremely slow elevator) to the desk. They gave me a new key and that worked fine.

Housekeeping wanted to clean the room at 8am, even though I was checking out "oh, sorry, we'll come back." They were back at 12:20pm even though we were supposed to have late checkout "oh, sorry." I should have put up the do not disturb.

The place is frequently cheap, it's a category 2, and I was here because I needed a night in Annapolis and the Westin had a 2-night minimum stay requirement in place. They do treat platinums consistently, but it is not a great property IMHO.

You are far more patient than I lol!

Cheers,

Sheraton Annapolis 2 1/2 * property
 

Gleff - I was also at the Sheraton 5/30-5/31. I live in the Washington area. However, I had to be in downtown Annapolis Saturday night and Sunday afternoon and it made sense to stay overnight in area. Booked an award stay with an upgrade to the Club floor for a total of 4000 points.

I share your frustration with the front desk. We were checked in around 5:45 and given the requested king bed room on the 6th floor. I guess we were lucky the room wasn't available when you checked in. When we went to the room we saw it faced the highway and being concerned with noise while trying to sleep, I went back down to switch to another room. Of course there was only one room available on the quiet side of the hotel - a king bed room on the second floor which I refused since I felt it would be even noisier than the highway facing room on the sixth floor. Somehow there was no other king bed room on the club floor or another floor or even a two bed room on any floor. Seems like the hotel staff was trained by the Drug Enforcement Agency to just say no.

As it turned out we were not bothered by the road noise. However, the air conditioner unit was very noisy. Nevertheless, we slept well.

We were probably in the restaurant when you were there. We arrived around 11:00. All the containers looked like they were filled at 6:30 and then ignored. So, as you mentioned, pickings were limited. Fortunately, they did make omeletes to order in the kitchen.

My wife is affected by caffeine and only drinks herbal tea. Of course, they didn't have any. This didn't make sense since the room is equipped with a coffee maker, coffee and two herbal tea bags. I'm always amazed by the fact that supposedly decent hotels don't carry this item. We were in New York Memorial Day weekend and a modest coffee shop had a choice of six different kinds.

Overall, a good place to stay if you don't expect much. Worth the 4000 points (3000 + 1000 for the upgrade since I'm not a platinum) for a one night weekend stay. However, I wouldn't choose to stay there for more than a night or two.

The moldy, mildewy smell triggered my allergies badly, by the way, I felt sick for about two days. I had left my favorite polo shirt on the floor, and multiple washings haven't gotten the mold stains out of the shirt.

No, I haven't complained to corporate customer service. I don't want to get into finger pointing, he said/she said stuff. Lobby was fine, don't know what the other floors were like, but there are real problems on that 5th floor and in that room.

Stayed here a few months ago. Don't remember much except the consistently unimpressive front desk staff throughout the day and the fire alarm going off around 06:30. There was not a single announcement during the alarm or while all guests were waiting out in the parking lot. People just meandered back in after the fire department finally arrived and [assumedly!] assessed the situation, with absolutely no info provided by hotel.

E-mailed hotel and tried to keep it light, just letting them know that a lack of info for guests in an emergency situation is not good (I have several very real first-hand experiences in this matter). Didn't help that the button on my phone to the front desk didn't work and I had to call them via my cell three times during our stay before I realized the problem, including during the alarm.

Was told our comments were passed along to HM and then recieved a slightly glib brush-off from AGM who said our concerns were passed along to the Chief Engineer who was in charge of fire drills :eek: and that at least the system "does what it is intended to do"... Uhm, actually, no, it doesn't since it didn't wake me up, the Mrs. did (I'm usually a heavy sleeper). To be fair, while I appreciate any help, I count on one person to get me, and possibly others, out alive: me. But to have not a single announcement made during the entire event, whether over the PA or even directly to the full guest roster in the parking lot and/or lobby, is inexcusable in a real situation. Since we didn't know what the situation was, the rule is to assume it's real.

Additionally, due to our late night out and the early "wake-up call" , we asked for late (14:00) check-out upon return to our room. It was reluctantly provided, even though it was part of our benes at the time. Stilll, housekeeping knocked on our door before noon and again twenty minutes later :mad:.

You'll never know how prepared people are for a real emergency, but, fire alarm aside, I still was unimpressed enough to ever return, even the though the oportunity has presented itself several times.

In hindsight, I took the situation too lightly. Of course, so did the hotel who admitted during the alarm that they didn't know the cause... Their inactions were, thus, totally unacceptable.

I spent 4 nights here over Thanksgiving. Here's the email I sent to CCS:

Now, I know I should have gone right back downstairs & demanded a new room -- but Mrs CO FF was beat (the guy next to us was a COS, and we both leaned at a 15 degree angle from LAX-BWI) and we just wanted to sleep.

Hat Tip to GLeff - my wife had allergy issues too, and running the a/c like you noted helped!

They do offer the 500 *pts for no housekeeping - that was a nice plus. But, the 500 points on checkin didn't post...

25 minutes after sending my email to CCS, I got a personal reply apologizing for the problems, promising to send the complaint on to the GM, and telling me that I'd get 8,000 *pts (2 nights @ a Cat 2) in compensation.

WOW. Quick, generous, super!

Just stayed 4/20-4/21/2010
Checked in early per reservation. Room was not ready but staff was nice enough about it. Only took 30 min's to get one.

Went and had lunch in the Cafe, food was overcooked and overpriced.

Room was on club floor but not lounge level, no upgrade to suite for Platinum Member.

Door lock would not recognize my key several times, on one return they sent security with me to insure I could get in.

Arrived at the Lounge at 8:30PM not a great selection, only 2 brands of beer at $4.00 each.

Parking is $15.00 per day

Bathroom shower ceiling paint was falling off in chunks and the shower control valve came off in my hand. Toilet was dirty and there was still trash in the can under the desk.

I was charged for internet access, had to have it removed from the invoice.

I spoke with the manager on the way out, she smiled, appologized and said have a nice day.

My Plat 500 gift has not posted yet, I will request when it has been a week.

I would not stay again.

Has anyone stayed here recently? I see a lot of reviews saying this place needs to be updated. But looking at the pictures on their website for their traditional 2xQueen Bed rooms, they look pretty nice to me?

Link: https://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/rooms/index.html?propertyID=1266

Quick Update...

Stayed here for 5 nights in business and overall, the stay was good. A few notes on my stay.

- as a PLT, I was upgraded to an executive suite. It was pretty big with two rooms, two TVs, a fridge, desk, eating table, etc. the room was fine but a little dated and worn.

- Access was excellent from highway and parking was free. As it's more of a side-of-the-highway hotel, the chain food options are plentiful. What I really liked is that "Annapolis Town Center" is a short walk away. Now, don't confuse this town center with the historical downtown area (which is a 5-10 min drive away). The twin center is one of those new manufactured mixed-use town centers with shopping, food, etc.

- club lounge was a touch above average. They had bacon and eggs, along with the continental items and oatmeal.

- ironically, as mentioned above the fire alarm did go off one evening. I walked out in the hallway and talked to a maintenance guy who told me that sometimes it will go off when people smoke in their room. I stopped sounding after 10 seconds and I went back in my room.

I've stayed at the Westin before and it's a nice hotel a few minute walk from the beautiful historical downtown. It usually does command a higher price and parking is typically not free. As I was there for work, I chose easier in-and-out vehicle access of the Sheraton.

Overall... It was a little dated but fine. I would stay here again for work. If I was there to tour around, I'd probably do the Westin for it's walking access to downtown.

This hotel is going to become an IHG Crowne Plaza at the end of September.

Stayed one night this week. It's a dump. Won't be a loss to the program at all.

But was always a cheap alternative in the area for me.

Last day...
 

Leaving Starwood on September 30, 2015

The Sheraton Annapolis Hotel will be leaving the Starwood system on September 30, 2015. Reservations for dates on or after September 30, 2015, will not be eligible for Starwood Preferred Guest membership benefits, award redemption or accrual.